141–150 of 226 posts
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Supply and demand. If you decrease the supply, the small existing demand will pay more.
When suppliers destroy supply, it makes a good argument for piracy
A testament to the world’s supply chains and manufacturing automation :)
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That's not "expensive". Expensive is that I need to pay $1.99 for something and I have throw away half of it because I couldn't use it. I'd rather spend $0.99 for 1/3 the quantity. I am spending less money after all.
Which doesnt apply to deodorant, toothpaste, cleaning supplies... or much of anything that Dollar Tree sells. Unless you are throwing it away for some reason other than that it went bad like you had to buy some because you are traveling, in which case, you are not at all the normal customer.
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Depends. I got a car loan for a modest car with 0.7% APR, I don’t see a problem with that. My mother-in-law leases a new Toyota Corolla every few years; she gets trouble-free motoring at a reasonable rate. Myself I have no idea how many miles I am going to drive next year (do I work from home? take the bus? do I drive to Montreal or North Carolina a lot?) so I buy a similar car and drive it into the ground. Many of t…
I've never paid more than about 3.5k USD for a car. Not sure what the second hand market is like in America but in NZ and UK you can get great cars for a fraction of the cost of buying new. In terms of maintenance, I've had some that were troublesome, and some that needed nothing, it's a bit of a lottery in that regard. Most common problems are solvable with a few hours on your back in the garage though. Possibly mos…
The $3.5k car is going to need more than $0 a month in repairs; the lease price includes that. If you like fixing your own car, get joy out of a unique car, don’t mind owning three VWs and having one run at any time the clunker can be a win. But if your clunker needs a $200 repair every month you might decide a payment and a reliable car is better for you.
Infotainment systems are in reverse gear but people underestimate the environmental and safety benefits of newer cars. There was that time I rolled my fit. I got lucky, but I didn’t even feel pain and the back window broke out so I even had an easy time getting out with the car wedged in the roadside ditch.
I absolutely love dollar stores. I recently needed to buy a set of crayons for my son and the options were $5 on Amazon, $4 at Target or $1 at the local Dollar Tree (and the pack had 36 crayons, vs 24 from the other sources!). They're not the right place for everything, but for kids' art supplies, cleaning products, party paraphernalia, seasonal decor, etc, they can't be beat. They seem to have a pretty strong stigma…
Agreed. The cheapest I could buy a plastic spatula on amazon was $7? Bought one for a dollar instead. Seems to work fine.
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Agreed. The cheapest I could buy a plastic spatula on amazon was $7? Bought one for a dollar instead. Seems to work fine.
$7? You absolutely did not look very hard. I just checked UK Amazon and found them for £1
I did this a few times and (combined with needing to drive there) and decided it was not really worth the savings from our quick/overpriced markets in walking distance, except in rare circumstances. YMMV.
So if I can summarize the article, the economics of dollar stores are "sell things for more than it cost to buy them". I mean, it seemed like the article wanted to have some nefarious take, but offering smaller quantities of items so people can afford them, even if the per-unit cost is higher, doesn't seem like some unexpected malicious intent. I mean, I certainly expect to pay more per gram if I'm buying a travel si…
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It’s interesting as well that the policies used (e.g., mortgage interest deductions) are almost universally considered bad policy by most economists. It’s rare to find such a consensus in economics, yet it’s such a third-rail that politicians can’t touch it
It’s “worked” for a very long time. Greatest generation through even some older millennials have been able to treat their homes like a self filling piggy bank. It’s natural that there would be a lot of denial that this can’t go on forever.
For example, the tax deduction incentivizes people getting the biggest house possible to maximize the deduction. It also disproportionately benefits the higher income classes because they are able to afford more expensive homes. So from a perspective of helping more people become home owners it’s bad policy. It’s actually better at helping people who already are in a class that can afford homes just be able to afford more expensive homes. From that angle, it never really “worked”.
But so many people are accustomed to the benefit it’s virtually impossible to roll back.